“Win or lose, I will vote for Keshi to continue in fashioning the new Super Eagles” - Mike Awoyinfa, foremost Nigerian journalist.

“If Nigeria wins (in today’s match), it would be double joy for Stephen Keshi, who would have won the African Cup of Nations both as a player and a coach. Keshi has definitely paid his dues as the former coach of Mali and Togo. And it has paid off for him as we all can see. Using his insider knowledge of Mali, it was easy for Nigeria to plan against Mali and win by such a huge margin.”

My prayer is that Stephen Keshi will be left alone to do his job without the sword of Damocles hanging around his neck. He is definitely a good coach. Otherwise, we won’t be where we are today. Win or lose tomorrow, I will vote for Keshi to continue in fashioning the new Super Eagles that will lead us to the World Cup in Brazil.

I am happy that Keshi has not allowed pride to sneak into his cranium. When asked whether his new Super Eagles are better than the Super Eagles of 1994, Keshi sounded very diplomatically modest. According to him, the Super Eagles of 1994 were not built overnight. It took about five years to build the team. This is just a brand new team which is in its formative stage. A lot of addition and subtraction still has to be done to arrive at the Dream Team.

Thank you Mr. Keshi for your courage in experimenting with the local lads. Sunday Mba’s goal should be dedicated to you. I am impressed with your leadership style. I am proud of what you have done so far in reshaping the Eagles.

It is good to hear that pride is not taking over Keshi. After all, pride, the Bible says, goes before a fall.

In the beginning, there was the Group of Death. And all those in the group have fallen to death, in the name of pride. But thank God, Nigeria is still alive in the Group of Life.

On Sunday (today), the Super Eagles would keep our dream alive, as they soar in the night skies, playing good football, scoring good goals and making Nigerians to believe once more in themselves and in their country.”

Excerpt from Mike Awoyinfa’s piece with the original title ‘Eagles have made me a believer again, published in his weekly back page column, Press Clips, in Saturday Sun, February 9, 2013.  Awoyinfa is ex-managing director/editor in chief of the Sun newspapers.